Litnet

"I loved how seamlessly the story blends humour, adventure and creativity. While the stakes are higher and the danger more pronounced, the narrative maintains its light, quirky tone throughout."

What is Breyten Breytenbach’s poetic legacy? His daughter Daphnée Breytenbach and his French translator Georges Lory join Catherine du Toit, head of the French department at Stellenbosch University, for a conversation on Breytenbach’s lasting influence on French and South African literature at the Franschhoek Literary Festival.

For anyone who loves reading, writing and the Karoo, please join us at the Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival from Thursday evening 18 June until Saturday night 20 June.

A study of anti-Blackness and white supremacy across four continents demonstrates that colorblindness is neither new nor a subtype of racist ideology, but a constitutive technology of racism.

"We meet Maryam in 1994 at the movies, watching Grumpy old men with her best friend Tauhier after being ditched by their friends. It is such an ordinary moment, and yet it becomes the foundation for everything that follows. There is already a tenderness between them – a sense of possibility – but restraint. They make a choice: Their friendship matters more than the risk of romance."

Julien says her story grew out of her fascination with the people who come to work in our homes: domestic workers, nannies, carers, gardeners.

"Boel gives 'clear steps for raising capital, analysing and securing high-yield deals, structuring investments for maximum tax benefits, and manage property profitably'. He has even coached mentees who have come from townships and started out with absolutely nothing."

"The image is almost too apt, which may be why Jill Lepore, never innocent of the well-placed metaphor, places it at the conceptual centre of We the People, her Pulitzer Prize-winning history of 2026."

"What truly stood out, though, is just how inclusive this story is. It celebrates diversity in such a natural and beautiful way. It opens the door for important conversations, and teaches children from an early age that we all experience the world differently, and that’s okay."

"What you are left with, finally, is an accumulation of atmosphere: lives conducted partly in the open and partly in concealment; stories moving across continents and decades; a writer who converts experience into fiction; and a woman who must inhabit the afterlife of that transformation."

Poets or their publishers are invited to submit entries for the Ingrid Jonker Prize for English poetry in 2026.

"Haram is not just about the tension of authenticity, but, moreover, about the limits of sin and redemption. Charles writes about the way in which shame silences and stifles the other."

Saturday’s workshop is aimed at getting the public to write in their mother tongue. The outcome will determine whether another anthology can be published, as was done in 2025.

Amongst the familiar themes that are reappraised, are Smuts’s successes and failures in policies and leadership, domestically and internationally.

"That’s what makes this story unforgettable: It doesn’t ask you to witness history. It asks you to feel what history leaves behind."

"The book leaves residue – unease that outlives the page, compelling readers to dwell in its frictions."

"This rhythmic style of writing keeps children engaged, and it is a wonderful way to remember the words on the page and retain information, especially the animal facts. Children love to guess the next word when reading in rhyme, and it makes for entertaining and expressive reading aloud."

"This is not a novel that wants you to feel comfortable, and its structure won’t let you, either."

"A culinary icon synonymous with Cape flavour, Dudley has infused the experience with a playful, 'naughty-but-nice' energy inspired by the region’s Cape Malay roots."

"In these digital, transcontinental and often invisible spaces, I’m learning what it means to engage fully – not just as a publicist, but as a professional, a writer, a reader and a South African working at an American press – in a globally connected, book-loving world."